Jungsu quickly fell to the ground in time with Jin-woon's punch. This time, he made it look really dramatic as he swung his head to the other side, successfully evading Jin-woon's punch.
As he glanced up at Jin-woon, he could see not only the anger of Baekhyun's father, but also of Jin-woon. Jungsu wasn't sure why he was so upset and aggravated. Though he didn't have a problem dodging him right now, he knew that eventually he would. The beatings were supposed to lead Baekhyun to fall onto the ground. Jungsu would be at a much greater disadvantage if he were to be on the floor, without any intention of defending himself. Dodging from the ground in would be much harder, especially with Jin-woon having to kick him instead of punch him. Not only would his kicks be more powerful, but his kicks would also have a longer reach, making it much harder for Jungsu to dodge. But this was all on the basis that Jin-woon would kick him with all he had. Even though he seemed upset at the moment, Jungsu didn't think Jin-woon would actually kick him with the intention of hitting him. To punch was one thing, but to kick someone? That was a far more serious matter.
Jin-woon grabbed him by the collar as was written in the script, seething as he looked into Jungsu's eyes. Jungsu waited for the staff to intervene at any moment, but they let the scene play out as they saw the tension and rawness of the scene. Jungsu thought that they were rather selfish for doing so. Either they were ignoring the tension that they were sensing, or they were simply that oblivious. Either way, it was unprofessional. If it was anyone else but Jungsu, they would have seriously gotten injured.
Jungsu let himself be thrown to the ground by his collar as he stared up at Jin-woon with the dead eyes of Baekhyun. Though at the moment, Jungsu couldn't fully give himself into the character of Baekhyun as he needed to also be present in the moment in order to dodge the attacks on him. But still, Jungsu was not feeling like himself. He was feeling rather pathetic and empty. Baekhyun did not have many emotions to express as he was a psychopath and a sociopath. He did not know the difference between right and wrong as he would often break societal norms when he was a child. However, his parents taught him how to behave in public, so slowly, Baekhyun would adopt the social cues and tried to internalize any emotions he would see in others.
But that didn't mean that he understood them. No, he simply implemented them as one would a math formula. But that was typically seen in sociopaths.
As Jin-woon threw his foot back, getting ready to land a kick on him, Jungsu could already tell that Jin-woon was seriously intending to land the kick. He could see it in Jin-woon's eyes, it was the look of a sick pleasure, anticipation, and excitement, as the adrenaline ran through his body. For a moment, Jungsu was back inside his body as he felt his stomach turn at the look in Jin-woon's eyes. It was not the fac that Jin-woon was getting ready to kick him with his full power that Jungsu felt odd about. He wasn't upset that Jin-woon was kicking him, as that way, the scene would look more realistic. On top of that, Jungsu had told him that he didn't need to hold back. But what was unsettling for Jungsu was that Jin-woon seemed to be enjoying it. He seemed to be enjoying the power he held over Jungsu in that moment.
Jungsu had known many of those type of people in his life. While he didn't like them particularly, he quickly realized that it was not only the people who were considered bad that desired power. Power was a naturally corrupting force. Whether an individual had good intentions or bad ones, he had seen the flicker in their eyes as they held that power in their hands. Jungsu didn't blame them, he was sure that he himself had felt the same way in certain situations. But what Jungsu didn't like was when he became the object of desire for them to express their power over.
As the kick came towards Jungsu, he watched it with calm eyes. The kick was certainly not the most efficient, nor the fastest, so Jungsu felt as though he was watching something from a third-person perspective. It felt that slow to him.
As the kick was a millimetre away from Jungsu's stomach, Jungsu used his abdominal muscles to throw his body away from the kick, making it appear as if Jin-woon had kicked him, and Jungsu was moved backwards from the impact. He let out a cough, imitating the sounds he would make when he'd actually been kicked in the past.
For a moment, Jin-woon looked down at Jungsu in confusion and shock, wondering how he had missed Jungsu when he could have sworn the kick had landed. Yet, he hadn't felt it land, but it most certainly looked like it had.
Jungsu held onto his stomach as he curled into himself. This was supposed to be the last kick, but from the embarrassed look on Jin-woon's face, Jungsu knew that he would be aiming once again. And so he did, throwing his foot back once again. And again, Jungsu threw his body the other way, letting out a choking sound as he dodged once again last minute.
He could see that Jin-woon was finally getting his emotions under control as he pursed his lips in displeasure.
"F**king monster." He said to him then.
In that moment, Jungsu wasn't sure if Jin-woon was saying this to Baekhyun, or Jungsu as Jungsu felt Jin-woon's eyes digging into his own.
"Cut!" The director yelled, and Jungsu let out a breath.
As he stood up, his eyes connected with Jin-woon's and he could tell that the actor was feeling uncomfortable as he finally came to his senses and glanced at Jungsu warily.
Jungsu gave him a small smile, reassuring him that no harm had been done to him and that he didn't blame Jin-woon for what he had seen. Because both Jin-woon and Jungsu knew that the look in Jin-woon's eyes expressed more than simply the emotions of Baekhyun's father.
"Beautiful take both of you! Now for the next scene..."
Jungsu walked off the set as that was the only scene he was required to shoot for the day. Hyunwoo trailed beside him, struggling to keep up with Jungsu's long strides. Hyunwoo was practically skipping beside Jungsu now to keep up with him.
"Jungsu I'm surprised! You're a really good actor! No, I'd even say you are one of the best actors in the nation. The way you expressed the sociopathic side of Baekhyun was better than anyone could have imagined. Do you know what the staff was saying after your scene on the phone ended?" Hyunwoo looked up excitedly at Jungsu.
Jungsu tilted his head in question, not sparing a glance at Hyunwoo as he surveyed his surroundings for any suspicious-looking people. He was wearing a mask and a hat this time as they walked toward Hyunwoo's car, but he still didn't want to take any risks.
"They said that either you're a genius actor who studied abroad, or... you are a sociopath! Hahaha!" Hyunwoo let out a laugh as he bent over, clutching his stomach.
Jungsu narrowed his eyes as he turned around to look at him, waiting for him to stop laughing. Hyunwoo continued laughing, however.
Jungsu waited a minute before he settled down, pressing his lips together to hold back a laugh as he looked at the irritated look on Jungsu's face.
Jungsu started walking again, leaving behind Hyunwoo as he walked towards the car.
"Hey...wait! Tell me, why didn't you consider acting earlier? Surely since you've had training, you must have..." Hyunwoo trailed off as he saw the confused look on Jungsu's face.
"Wait, you're telling me.... you've had no training?!" Hyunwoo shouted in the parking lot, to which Jungsu shot him a sharp look. He glanced around to see if they had attracted too much attention before turning to face Hyunwoo.
"No. Isn't that normal?" Jungsu asked. He had figured that there were plenty of actors who hadn't had formal training. In fact, a lot of actors were previous kpop stars, so Jungsu figured it wouldn't be surprising that he hadn't had any either.
"No Jungsu! That is not normal! At least not for the level of control and the emotions that you were able to convey in your eyes and facial expressions." Hyunwoo shook his head as he opened the car, sitting down in the driver seat as Jungsu took a seat beside him.
"The control you showed us, it seemed both calculated yet it also seemed to flow. It was like you knew exactly what to show the camera!" Hyunwoo said in disbelief as he reversed the car.
"Hm." Jungsu said as he watched the cars moving alongside him once they'd gotten onto the road.
"I think I'm gonna take my driver's test tomorrow." He said, noting that he still hadn't acquired that piece of ID yet.
"Oh, that's good! Have you practiced for it?"
Jungsu thought of the high-speed chases he had partaken in and wondered if that counted as practice.
"Yes." He said hesitantly.